Windows of Heaven
by RenaissanceLou
Summary: By day, all was sleepy and calm, as Takakura promised it would be. But by night, everyone's own personal hell was breaking loose and mercilessly consuming anyone on the outside that dared to interfere. Rated for language, sex, violence and crack pairings.
1. Chapter 1

When Jack had come to the valley to pick up where his father had left off on the farm, he was greeted with open arms and mile-wide, half genuine smiles from the townsfolk. He had made the assumption then from said open arms and smiles that this place was going to be the easy going, sleepy town that Takakura had promised it would be. An assumption that would prove to only be half-true.

By the time Jack had realized the cold truth, it was much too late to just drop his sickle and leave. He now had a working farm to tend to, and leaving all the work to his mentor and going back to his old home with the sole excuse of "Sorry, these people creep me out" wouldn't have sufficed at all. So he chose to ignore the secretive, almost threatening aura that surrounded his neighbors and continued to work. The people of the town seemed to appreciate him not attempting to getting involved, a bit oblivious to the fact that Jack wanted nothing to do with almost any of them or their double lives.

In the spring of the second year, he married Nami, a wandering redhead that had stumbled upon the valley in her travels and had stayed longer than expected. Nami gave him what no other woman in his past could, and he loved her for that. The two had a son, who watched from the other side of the fence as his father fed, milked, and sheared his way to a generous amount of gold. He asked his mother one afternoon if, when he was old enough, if he could help with the farm work. Nami just kissed her sons forehead and told him that he was free to do as he pleased.

But Jack Harvest was, within three years of living in the valley, a dead man.

After Jack's medical-related death, Nami became friendly with the mysterious, quiet Marlin and married him that Winter. Townsfolk would accuse her of cheating prior to Jack's death, but Nami ignored them, much like her husband did, and kept on with her life. Marlin was a decent step-father to Jack's son, the red-headed, shy Dalton, but when he reached his 16th birthday, something had changed. The boy was cold and just downright rude to Marlin, and Nami knew that something had to have been wrong. Dalton would creep up to her in the kitchen at night as she was preparing dinner and, without words, give her an unexplained, yet welcome hug and then eat. Nami guessed that he was just lonely.

Nami was never good at taking guesses.

xXx

Forget-Me-Not Valley had some of the darkest, as well as the coldest nights Nami had ever slept through. This night in particular, though, had to be one of the worst. A wild storm, complete with loud thunder and star piercing lightning, was literally shaking the wooden house left to her by her late first husband.

Sleeping being very much a verb of the past, now that the current situation about her had begun and entered it's pinnacle. She lie wide awake, with her eyes staring lazily at the ceiling. She usually had no problem sleeping through a storm, and tonight was no different.

There was only one thing keeping her from some well-needed night's rest. Well, two things, and they weren't any of nature's acts that were going on outside. They were actually behind the door to her son's room, doing acts that would make the great Goddess herself curse in utter disgust.

Every cry, every call, every shout of the other's name was just another annoyance to her ears. She rolled her eyes when she heard that all to familiar voice of her husband's tell her son to "shut up, or you'll wake your mother", and she smirked in amusement at the very defiant "Fuck off!" that followed.

"You bastard, just fuck me already!"

And judging by the moans and screams that followed quickly afterwords, she assumed that Marlin had done just that.

Not the rain, that poured hard and long, nor the inky blackness of the cold night could hide them. She was fully aware of what they were doing, and had been for some time, and she was almost ashamed of herself for not caring. At first she was sickened. At first she wanted to break down that door and drag Marlin by his toes out of the house and back to the farm from whence he came. She never loved that man anyway.

But with that realization- that she didn't love him, that is- she decided that if this was what it took to make Dalton happy, then what the hell. Let the bastard screw the boy's brains out, see if she cared. She would lie awake at night, not at her own will of course, and have those screams of pain and what she assumed was pleasure force themselves into her ears. What started out as something that made her sick at her stomach, was now a situation that she could not control nor bring herself to care about.

It was storming like hell right outside, but despite the lightning and the pounding rain, she rose from the bed in her pajamas, and headed out the door to the bedroom that she and Marlin had shared (shared until, of course, Marlin believed her to be sleeping) and into the living room, and out the door, taking gentle steps so she would not disturb the affair in her son's room.

The rain and insanely loud thunder didn't faze her as she walked through the thick mud and passed the old barn, the food shipping building, and Takakura's house. She took a silent fraction of a moment to pay some respect to the now deceased mentor of Jack's. He had died soon after Jack did, the amount of farm work he now had to take care of now that Jack was gone catching up to his aged, weak heart.

_Forgive me, Takakura. Jack. _And she was back on her trail again.

She went down through the rain with squared shoulders and a stoic face, not flinching the slightest at the lightning or thunder. She passed the Inn that she had stayed in for an entire year, where Ruby now lived alone. She thought about dropping in for a small time, but remembered how late it was.

From what she had heard, Rock was now living with Lumina after they had got married, and Tim had gone to travel somewhere and hadn't returned yet. _Yet._

Nami wasn't certain of either thing. She didn't associate herself with townsfolk much anymore. Except for the one that she was on her way to visit now.

More mud, more rain, more thunder and lightning- she just kept walking until she came up to an all to familiar, colorful yurt. She felt her first feelings of uncertainty creep up on her as she came into five feet of the home of her old, closest friend. She held her breath and knocked on the front door.

And as he always did, regardless of the time, weather or occasion, Gustafa answered.

"Nami?" his voice was raspy and weak, tired eyes that rarely saw the light of day without shades squinting to look at his visitor. "C'mon in, sister."

Even in his exhausted state, looking into the face of the person who had woken him up in the middle of the night, Gustafa was a kind, welcoming person. It was a quality in him that Nami had never seen in any other human being. Not even in Jack, who was the man she came to love more than anything before his death.

Her soaking wet pajamas and dripping hair gave her a frightening, almost depressing silhouette, and Gustafa's heart went out to his old friend. "You traveled through one devil of a storm to come visit, didn't you?" he lit some incense in an attempt to keep the mood mellow, even if it were coming a flood outside.

Nami shrugged nonchalantly. "It's just rain." she replied before running a hand through her soaked hair. "Water is a natural element of the world. No harm done."

Gustafa chuckled. "As is fire, sister. And if that were what was dripping off of your head, we would have a problem."

Nami was too tired to reply. Gustafa reached over to the foot of his instrument rack and grabbed a recently disrobed t-shirt and tossed it lackadaisically to the red-head. She unbuttoned her sleeping shirt, modesty and trying to not overexpose not even crossing her exhausted mind. Gustafa rose to his feet and turned his back anyway, going to set up a place for Nami to sleep.

Her nude torso was nothing to relish at, anyway- she had average sized breasts and a thin, healthy figure, but to say that she had a lot of sexual appeal was an overstatement.

She slipped out of her sleeping pants, to, revealing not only thin, pale legs but also various small scars from farm work. A light scratch on her finger that was once a deep red, stitched wound, had paled and healed over months of time caught a glance from Nami, reminding her of the exact moment she had earned the scar - her first attempt at cutting grass for fodder with the sickle. It wasn't pretty.

"Tell me," Gustafa said suddenly, breaking Nami's train of thoughts. "what brings you here so late?"

Nami was thinking, or rather hoping, that Gustafa wouldn't ask. But though she knew that simply saying that she would rather not talk about it would be enough to change the subject, she felt that her best friend deserved to know why she was here in the ridiculous hours of a stormy night. She had taken a seat on the newly formed, small yet comfortable sleeping space constructed simply from blankets and a pillow or two before explaining, in almost-full-but-not-enough-to-creep-him-out detail.

Gustafa was much to courteous in nature to make his disgusted opinion evident on his face. Instead he just nodded, with a disapproving frown, before returning to his own bed.

"It's been hell for you, hasn't it?" it was more of a genuine question rather then a sympathetic one, hinting that Gustafa had doubts that any of this even effected Nami as much as it would anyone else. Nami just sighed and shrugged, and Gustafa felt guilty for his opinions. Hard or not, Nami was still very much human. A fact that the town seemed to often forget. A fact that even _he had a habit of forgetting._

"Goodnight, sister." And the lamp was out, and the light was gone.

The storm, too, had seemingly passed.

The literal one, of course. Not the metaphorical one that, despite past events carrying on for far to much time, Nami felt was only just now beginning.

_(OoO)_

_I hoped ya'll enjoyed that… I'm excited for my first multi-chapter. Tell me what you think. It will get more intense and stay true to it's M rating in future chapters, but I decided to go ahead and establish the rating now because of the language and themes. Stay real, ya'll. _


	2. Chapter 2

Lumina slept fine through rain. Even through the most intense of thunderstorms and the brightest of lightning, she could stay in deep sleep throughout the night. It was at that quality of many that she and her recently wedded husband had differed.

Rock believed himself to be one for solutions- and one thing that served as a solution for not being able to sleep was jacking off. When that didn't work, Rock tried jacking off again. And when it failed to work a second time, he groaned and rose to his feet and quietly moved from Lumina's room to the first floor of the villa, and into the kitchen. Grabbing a glass and helping himself to a sip of water, he felt movement behind him.

At first the pale arms snaking around his waist shocked him, but when he realized who was touching him he grinned behind his expensive glass. "Sebastion would have lost his job if he did this to his master."

A low, seductive giggle emerged slowly out of the body behind him and seemed to ooze out over Rock's body, like melted chocolate out of an expensive candy. "Then whatever is it that you want," the same low, yet feminine voice inquired as her hand reached down to her partner's crotch, and only after she had the boy right where she wanted him, moaning and breathing hard from her experienced touch, did Muffy finish her sentence. "Master?"

The blonde bombshell had excused herself from her position as a bartender after Griffin married. To be living in the same house with her ex boyfriend as well as boss and his wife would have been beyond awkward. So she packed up the few things that she had left and turned to Romana, who was the kindest person she knew. The kind old woman had lost her faithful butler, Sebastion, around the same time that Muffy's one-drunken-night-fling Jack had died, about fifteen years ago, and was in need of a new helper. Muffy jumped at the chance to become the maid of the house, and was given Sebastion's old room. Though creepy, it was indeed comfortable.

"On your knees." Rock had ordered nearly breathless, and the maid squeezed herself in between Rock and the faucet to sink slowly and seductively to the floor, and unclothe his hardened shaft and take it into her mouth.

"_Damn…" _he whispered as his eyes slammed shut. Rock had come to the ultimate conclusion that this woman had no gag reflex. Almost unconsciously the boy began to thrust into her mouth, and he felt the blonde start to use her teeth. He cried out loud at the feeling, and then took every amount of energy in him to keep his mouth closed- he did, after all, have his wife upstairs.

When this scandalous affair first started, he felt guilty, and, even if it were slight, disgusted with himself. Were Romana still alive, this wouldn't be happening… or perhaps not at this intensity, or this certain place, where she could hear them… hell, who was Rock kidding. It was the old bat's fault for even giving the two the opportunity to interact, for before Muffy took her job as a maid, Rock and Muffy had talked maybe twice. He had always found her amazingly attractive, but considered her very much out of his extensive league (which was a harder thing to admit then anything else) not to mention she was always with Griffin.

Romana had passed about three years after Sebastion and Jack had, and when she had, it seemed like the entire town was going to lose it's mind. She was considered the matriarch of the valley, and to lose such an influential person put the civilization as a whole on hold. A funeral service unlike any other that Rock had seen, and the intensity of everyone's emotions was almost laughable. But Rock, as he rarely did, kept to himself and stood by his wife's side.

The blonde man muttered a raspy "_God" _and shot his climax into the back of Muffy's trained throat. She swallowed it expertly and rose back up to face Rock. "Shall we continue elsewhere?" he whispered, aroused as hell and breathless. Muffy looked over Rock's shoulder and slinked her arms around his waist. "Sure… shall _she _join us as well?"

He slung himself from Muffy's embrace to turn from the sink and look to who Muffy was referring to. Sure enough, a female was standing in the doorway, tired and stoic.

"Clara." Rock breathed, relieved. "I thought you were your mother."

"No." was all the pre-teen said. "Not this time."

Rock observed his daughter carefully, knowing that he could trust her with this secret but also knowing she could be a very deceiving. After all, she had kept it hidden for the five years that she had known. But then again, he had seen some of the damage she could cause with what Rock was almost certain was more intentional then a slip of the tongue. She reminded him of a quieter, female version of himself, what with her blonde hair that slipped around her round face and into a clean cut right at her neck, parted in the middle usually sporting a headband or ribbon.

"Why are you up, Bell?"

As she always did, Clara cringed at the overly affectionately murmured nickname. Muffy tried to pull a seductive, sweet smile on the thirteen year old and she felt her face flush. This was starting to get very, very old.

"I was thirsty."

"Really? So was Papa." Muffy replied. Rock glanced at her and then at his daughter. "And so was I… but not for water."

Rock took this as his cue to leave and return back to his bedroom. Clara could fend for herself… usually.

Clara tried to ignore both Muffy's antics and her father's cowardly exit. She reached for a glass… unknowing to her the same glass Rock had grabbed to get a drink a moment earlier… and turned on the tap, Muffy watching her every move.

"You're adorable." she whispered, reaching for a lock of the child's short blonde hair to put behind her ear. "You resemble your papa very, _very _much." the older blonde leaned over a traced a line down the girl's cheek with her fingertip. The touch made the younger woman blush a deep scarlet and leave the sink with the water still on, in a desperate hurry to get out of that room.

But Muffy would have none of it.

The maid grabbed the girl's wrist and pulled her back forcefully, causing the blonde preteen to drop her glass and have it shatter on the floor, loudly. Clara didn't… couldn't… wouldn't scream or cry out. She knew what this was about, and she was well aware that a way out of this was available. But she couldn't win by leaving the fight, she had to win fair. Fairness, equal victory… it had to be done. It was a _crucial _part of her.

Muffy grabbed the other girl's chin to face her directly, digging her nails into the child's cheeks. "Listen to me." she whispered, keeping a lazy but fierce gaze on the child. "You? You're _nothing _to that man." Clara couldn't turn away. This was her punishment… this was the sermon that she needed to hear for salvation. "Rock doesn't give _two shits _about you, girl. And I'm not saying that he cares about me, either. Or you're damn, spoiled, _sick as hell _mother."

Why didn't this sting? Why didn't this hurt? Why didn't she fight this?

"But I've had two men that I've loved very, _very very fucking much _taken right under my nose. And I wont have the third one serve the same fate."

Muffy roughly released the girl, but Clara didn't move from her spot.

The older woman saw that the pre-teen was making no move to escape and released a low, menacing chuckle. "You know the punishment for running your mouth. You've known it for five years."

Clara started to feel light-headed. "And I've kept the secret for five years." She turned away to exit the kitchen, but just as she was about to step out the door she spoke once more.

"I'll find a way to win this fairly." Muffy raised an eyebrow to the back of the girl's head. "Without the help of Mama. Or God forbid, Papa."

Muffy's eyes narrowed and her brow furrowed as she took in Clara's seemingly threatening words.

"This war between you and I. I'll be the victorious one in the end."

And she left.

She walked slowly to the staircase, but once she was out of Muffy's eyesight she broke into a sprint up the stairs. Hearing the thundering footsteps, though, Muffy cackled loudly as the lightning shone through the windows like a cheap horror movie.

The child peeked inside the cracked door of her parents room- it was there that true hopelessness lied in human form of her father, who had his head in his shaking hands, hearing everything from the shattered glass to the loud laugh of his mistress, knowing he could do nothing.

And there next to him laid her ill mother, who had stayed sound asleep through everything.

* * *

Hope you liked that one. Wonder what Lumina feels she deserves all this mistreatment for?


	3. Chapter 3

Dalton was wide awake, and painfully aware that Marlin was too. The couple slept side by side, Dalton's back to his stepfather. The teen shocked himself- he wasn't afraid to be fucked blind by the man but laying next to him in bed had always made him extremely uncomfortable. He groaned audibly in frustration and tried to slam his eyes shut to force sleep, but regardless of how hard he tried, he just couldn't slip out of consciousness. He wanted to cry, but knew he couldn't.

After Dalton's groan slightly breaking the dreadful silence, Marlin tried to touch the teenager on his shoulder to comfort him. He was currently sixteen, and Marlin was… well, much to old to be sleeping next to a sixteen year old boy. Dalton looked his age but didn't act like it. If you had only known him for words and not appearance you would've thought that the boy was well into his twenties.

"Don't touch me." was all the red head said.

Marlin scoffed and turned to have his back facing Dalton, knowing that tonight wasn't like the other nights. Usually he would leave wordlessly and slip back into his bedroom, but this time it was pointless- Nami had found out and the two must stop.

Against his better judgment, Marlin tried again. "Maybe she didn't hear us."

"I heard her leaving, dumbfuck. She _heard _us. Loud and _fucking _clear." Dalton tried to be angry at Marlin when in reality he was much angrier at himself.

Marlin knew that sleep wasn't coming to either of them and sat up, relaxing his temples. "Stop freaking out." he reached for the lamp and turned it on. "You know how she is… she'll just… you know, she'll be fine."

Marlin mentally slapped himself for uncertainty, and then mentally slapped himself again for making that uncertainty clear to his step son.

Dalton felt his tears try and surface, but refused to give them access. "Just because she's not as outgoing as other mothers doesn't mean that she's not _human._"

The dark-headed farmer did nothing, said nothing. What could he possibly do or say to make this situation any better? Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. "If she really cared…" Marlin's search for words to comfort Dalton instead left a rather interesting inquiry for himself.

"Then why didn't she come in here to stop us?"

Though intended to be a challenging inquiry for Dalton, it turned out to be an actual question for the both of them. After thinking silently for a few moments, Dalton sighed.

"She didn't want an awkward confrontation," he murmured. "You've been married to her for way to many years not to know that."

Of course, Dalton had an answer. The kid always had an answer. Marlin felt defeat soak through his muscles as well as mentality, and returned to a laying position in his bed, looking up hopelessly into the ceiling.

"I don't know what you want me to do."

"_I _don't know what I want you to do." Dalton knew that they would eventually come, but not like this- he felt his tears slip slowly and painfully down his face. It wasn't that he had been caught by someone- would it have been anyone, _anyone _except Nami, Dalton would have just taken it like a man. But, the last thing he would ever want to do is hurt his mother, the one person who has stayed with him and loved him no matter what he did.

Marlin sighed and looked over at his step-son, seeing that he was crying. He rolled over on his side and felt his heart threaten to burst. Seeing tears from anyone, whether it be his worst enemy or his sixteen year old lover, was hard for Marlin. "Hey." he said softly. "Don't cry, everything's fine." He reached over and gently wiped Dalton's tears away with his thumb. "Everything's fine."

He didn't think that Dalton would hold a positive reaction, but when the red-head suddenly latched on to his step father and buried his face in the crook of his neck, Marlin didn't know what to do. Sex came naturally to the pair, but what the hell was Marlin supposed to do when the kid showed him some affection for the first time outside of sex? He stayed frozen for a moment before reluctantly putting his arms around the boy.

"Everything's fine." he repeated for the third time. He raked his fingers gently through the teen's red hair, searching for more words. When he found none, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment that the two had.

* * *

"Storm's over, Daddy!"

A young child, at the tender age of five, (or was it six? Griffin's memory was never anything remarkable) called out to his father from the open doorway outside of the bar. He sported faded overalls over a simple white shirt, his bare feet showcasing dirty toe nails and tiny cuts from various moments of outdoor playtime.

"I see that." his barkeep father replied rather tiredly, appearing from his bedroom. "Come to bed, Luke, it's horribly late."

Luke frowned pitifully. "I'm not hurtin' anybody."

Griffin chuckled and made his way towards his son. He grunted as he picked the boy up and sat him in his arms. "Nobody except yourself. You can't develop these bad sleeping habits like your old man."

"Mama tells Aunt Vesta that I'll prolly have 'em anyway." he reached down to rub his tiny hand over his father's stubble on his chin. "It's hurenditory."

"Hereditary." his father corrected. "Now when we go through my room to get to your room upstairs, we have to be quiet all right? Mama's asleep."

"Yessir."

He put the child down on the floor and felt a massive burden be lifted off of his back. Either his son was getting way to big or he himself was getting way to old. As much as he didn't want to admit it he very much believed it was both.

He watched with a smile as he followed his son, the young boy tip-toeing carefully through his room and up the latter to the room that he and his twin sister shared- the room that used to belong to Muffy.

That name crawling into his head made his horribly uncomfortable and even fidget a little. He forced it back to where it came and crawled into bed with his wife. Though he knew he wouldn't sleep until much later that night, he thought he had might as well try.

Celia stirred and turned to face him, tired but beautiful eyes accompanying an exhausted smile.

"I'm sorry." he mumbled. "I didn't meant to wake you up."

His wife giggled softly. "You didn't." she wriggled over to him and laid her head on his chest, and her lover gently laid his arm around her waist. "I was awake. I've been awake, for awhile."

Griffin sighed warmly and there was comforting silence for a moment or two. Celia then began to speak in a quiet and almost uneasy tone.

"I wanted to ask you something."

Griffin, with the knowledge that that "something" could be anything, began to worry a little. Being outward about feelings wasn't really a quality that belonged to him. Regardless, though, this _was_ his wife.

"Ask away."

Celia inched away from their intimate position, almost afraid that it was inappropriate for the subject matter. Griffin's fear increased. Of course personal matters that could at time get personal were inevitable in a marriage, but something about Celia's preparation to ask the question made Griffin exceptionally uneasy.

"It's… about Muffy."

Suddenly the barkeep felt his heart sink to the pits of his stomach. This was the _very _last thing he wanted to discuss with anyone… much less his wife.

"Griffin, didn't you guys used to date? What ended that relationship?"

She watched as her spouse began to get greatly uneasy and suddenly felt guilty. She apologized quietly and laid back down, supposedly ending the potential conversation.

"She…"

"You don't have to answer me." Celia said softly, staring at the ceiling. "If it's uncomfortable for you to talk about, then you don't-"

"No, no…" He was breaking out into a sweat now. He considered the option of telling her the truth but in his mind it went nowhere. His panic was strictly inward and he didn't dare show it outwardly if he could help it.

"We… we didn't communicate." he _really _wished she hadn't asked him this. That was probably the reason that she stayed up so late. He felt horrible, tainted. It was just a small lie, but this was his _wife. _

"That's really all there is to it?" Celia asked, not looking away from the ceiling. "Well, then I'm glad you and I talk as much as we do."

There was so much softness and kindness in Celia's words that Griffin felt his panic sweep away. Now he was off the subject and could resume being intimate with his wife. He laid on his side and put a protective arm around her, holding her close to him. She faced the other direction and cuddled her back in his chest. "I love you." she said.

He smiled and kissed her cheek. "I love you too." Griffin closed his eyes, convinced that Celia had believed his lie.

She didn't. Not in the least.


	4. Chapter 4

Her one competition when in came to selling produce, gone.

Her brother, gone.

Celia, who was always like a daughter to her, gone.

Jack had died when Dalton was a year old, the little scamp talking up a storm in incoherent sentences about how wonderful daddy was, and Dalton was sixteen now. So Jack had been dead… _fifteen years?_

It felt like just yesterday the household had gotten the news. The valley was somber for once, and it seemed as if these filthy people actually gave a shit about someone other than themselves for a change. Vesta had never disliked the guy, but once he proved to be yet another failed attempt at getting Celia away from Griffin, she didn't really care for him all that much.

Marlin married Nami in the same year that Jack had died, (she's more than ready to move on, he had said, which gave Vesta the creeps, but whatever) so Marlin had been gone… _fifteen years._

So that glorious peace and quiet for a while, and a year after Jack's death Vesta knew that it was finally time to let Celia go. She wasn't going to find anyone that could take Griffin's place in the sweet girl's heart, so it was high time that Vesta accepted the fact that the girl was in love. They married immediately, making Celia gone… _fourteen years._

This didn't make a lot of sense. Vesta should have been dead by now with all the farm work of three people catching up to her for fourteen years. Not to mention that after Marlin married Nami, Vesta would occasionally babysit little Dalton, and after ten years of marriage, Celia decided to start a family. (seriously, who waited that long?)

With that thought she released a quiet chuckle and got back to work peeling her potatoes.

As she did so, though, she was sprung back into deep thought when she was reminded of a young Clara helping her out, talking about how one specific potato reminded her of Great Grandma Ramona's face that she had seen in a picture, and though the comment was disrespectful on so many levels, Vesta remembered throwing her head back and laughing like a mule.

The girl never knew Ramona. Right after Ramona's death, Lumina and Rock apparently shacked up and gave birth to young Clara. After fourteen years of raising a child together, they were married. What was it with these people and waiting so long for stuff to happen?

Her train of thought was broken by a box near the front of the store being tipped over, and a roar of thunder from outside just added to the shock.

"Shit."

"Hey." Her orange hair was graying, her eyes were getting droopy, and her skin was sagging, but her intimidating voice and attitude had not changed with age. "Stop using that kinda language, I got kids stayin' the night."

_Whoever you are. _she thought warily.

The figure took slow steps up to Vesta, revealing a man in a brown derby hat and long coat. "Your kids?"

"Not hardly." She stood and put her hands on her hips. "Can I help you?"

The shadowed stranger ignored her question. "Whose kids?"

Vesta didn't usually tolerate bull shit, but if this was an old friend trying to get the dirt, she wasn't gonna disappoint. "A friend's. The archeologist's."

The mystery guest looked upward quite quickly. "Which one?"

Just as she had suspected, an old citizen trying to get creative with some updated scooping. "The only one that's left." "Flora's. Carter left a long while back."

"What happened to him?" the obviously intrigued visitor walked a little closer to Vesta.

Convinced that this was someone from the old days, but staying safe nonetheless, Vesta made sure she had her pepper spray in her pocket. It was a shame really- ten years ago she would have never dreamed of owning pepper spray, much less carrying it around with her at all times, but things had changed since ten years ago. "No one knows."

A sigh from the guest and then with a step forward and the removal of their hat, a sudden revealing of their face, which was sullen and tired.

Vesta rolled her eyes and reached for a towel under the fruit stand to toss to the newly revealed figure. "Daryl, you son of a bitch. You almost had me scared to death."

The older scientist just sighed deeply and took a seat in front of Vesta. "I didn't want anyone to see me. Failure isn't something I'd like to share with the town." his eyes had sunken in and he had clearly aged much more than he had ought to in ten years.

"Where have you been?" the farmer asked, now visibly at much more ease.

Daryl shook his head and sighed once more. "Thought I could actually make a living with my experiments elsewhere. Was proven wrong."

Vesta smiled sadly. "Is that it, or did you miss a certain someone a little too much to stay away?"

Daryl was shocked to be reminded that Vesta was one of the few that knew about his love for a certain someone in the Valley. "I stayed away ten years, is that not enough?"

Vesta shook her head, still smiling, and took her seat again. Daryl knew Vesta was an understanding woman, so he decided that hiding the subject matter away was pointless. "Is he still here?"

"Of course. If he wouldn't go with you, what makes you think he would go anywhere?"

Daryl had to admit that was a good argument. Though he didn't want to admit it, even he had to come clean that he had one real reason for coming home- the man he loved. The one person who could love someone like him- a scruff, strange, crazed scientist.

He didn't know if it were appropriate or not, but he decided to change the subject. "Flora has children now?"

Vesta noticed the sudden change and went along with it. "Yeah, Carter apparently knocked her up before he ran off to do things bigger and better." she took the knife she was using to peel potatoes earlier and got back to work while she shot the breeze. "And that second one, she says it's definitely not Carter's, but she won't say who's it is." she shook her head disapprovingly. "My bets were on someone she was friends with, like you."

"Oh no, it wasn't me." Daryl had given up on Flora long before she apparently gave birth- was she even pregnant when he left? "So give me the scoop- how long has Carter been gone?"

Vesta looked up from her work to the ceiling to squint her eyes and think hard. "You left about ten years ago, making his departure from town about… eight years ago. Yeah, that sounds about right. Because Lily is eight years old."

Daryl nodded. "How old is the other one?"

"Six." she sighed and returned to peeling. "Flora's not the smartest of girls, but she's one of the few real ones we've got."

Daryl took a potato and another knife from the edge of the counter to help. "If by real you mean honest and not two-faced, then you've got that right." Vesta noticed the man's attempts to help her out and scooted a few potatoes his way.

"Town's changed a lot, huh?"

Vesta wish he hadn't asked. "Drastically. It's like Jack was the only good one we had left."

Daryl chuckled. "He stayed for like two years."

Vesta shook her head again. "I know." She brushed off some peels from the counter with her hands. She got a good look at Daryl, who's eyes were tired, and he had developed a few wrinkles, and when she looked closer in this bad light she could see a light, healed scar on his left cheek. She decided not to question it.

"Alright, tell me what everyone's up too."

Vesta had just made this mental recap, but verbalizing it to pass on some good gossip onto a returning friend didn't seem like a bad idea. She and Daryl had gotten friendly when he asked for a few seeds to conduct an experiment, and finding someone that he could talk too and share secrets with turned out to be a wildly convenient thing.

"Dalton, Jack's son, is 16 as of right now, and helping his parents run the farm, nothing going on over there as far as I know. Lumina and Rock just got married, and Clara is fourteen."

Daryl moved on to potato number two. "'bout time."

"Yeah. About five years ago Celia gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, Luke and Hannah."

"Again, 'bout time."

"That's what I said." Vesta took a break from her peeling to relax her hands, but Daryl continued with his potato. "Uh, Muffy works at Ramona's house now, as a maid of some sorts to help out with the newly wedded couple and Clara."

The atmosphere was light and peaceful, but there was something apparent on the scientist's face that was bothering him.

Vesta noticed said 'something' and grinned. "You want me to hurry up and get to _him, _don't you?"

Daryl didn't even look up. "Preferably."

Vesta laughed. "He's still here. He's still himself. He hasn't changed."

"Do you ever speak with him?"

"Now that I don't have you as a mutual connection, not really."

That was understandable, it was one of the things he and his love had bonded over, not being very social. But he couldn't help but wonder if he was terribly alone, like he said he was before Daryl came into his life.

"He's never asked about me?" his voice was sad and soft, and Vesta's heart went out to her strange friend. She took the peeled potato and knife from Daryl and reached over to pat his head with her free hand. "You know how he is." she stood and got the finished potatoes and put them in a box separated from the unpeeled ones. "Go see him."

Without something to distract him, Daryl could only twiddle his thumbs. "I don't think I can."

"Oh come on." she put the unpeeled potatoes away safely and put the peeled ones under her arm. "You and I know both know you want to. If things don't go as planned, you can stay here."

Daryl looked up, shocked. "What do you mean? What happened to my lab?"

Vesta rolled her eyes. 'Don't play stupid. It's been ten years, Daryl. They got rid of it."

It was very much expected but the scientist's heart sank nonetheless. "What's there now?"

"Space."

"So they had no reason to tear it down! They probably found some of my work in there, too- I got all the things I could when I left but…"

Vesta dropped a rough, large hand on the top of the man's hand. "Again, you can stay here if things get rough between you two, which they never did, but still."

Daryl lightly pushed Vesta's hand away before standing. "He might get angry at me."

"But it's worth the risk, and you know it." she smiled at him, warm and large, before nodding in the direction of the doorway. "Go. Take my umbrella."

And he did.

000

The tent had been replaced with a small wooden cottage shortly after Carter had left for better things- It was the last project Takakura had worked on before he had died. Flora promised to make him dinner to show her gratitude, but she never got the opportunity.

"Anything for you and the child." he had said. Flora never forgot those words.

The archaeologist had some tea on, trying to get it perfect. Her cooking skills were nothing special, but she really wanted to get this one thing right- there was an ongoing joke between her and her circle of friends that her cooking was the real reason Carter left, when it was obvious he left because Flora was pregnant.

_I wont let this relationship be ruined by such things- cooking or otherwise. _She thought with a deep frown. She heard a feminine, somewhat nasal voice behind her call out to her from the bedroom, where the sleeping bag she had slept in for years stood rather than an actual bed- funds weren't exactly plentiful right now.

"Hey, you invited me over. The least you could do is come lay down with me." after that she heard footsteps from the bed room to the kitchen, and Flora didn't even turn around in fear of one second away from the tea would ruin everything. "What are you making?"

Flora didn't comment. _Gotta focus, _she told herself.

"Tea? I didn't know you liked tea." the voice groaned when Flora failed to reply. The teen threw two arms around the older female's waist and rested her chin on her shoulder. "Come on, we don't need tea. Come lay down with me."

Flora sighed. "You talk too much."

The young woman behind her giggled and licked her cheek playfully. "Finally I get a word out of you. Now leave it!"

Flora shook her head. "No, I'm going to get this right. I'll be right there, just be patient."

Her companion groaned, annoyed, and withdrew her arms. "You're such a bitch!" she mumbled, half joking. And to show that it was sarcasm she harshly slapped Flora's ass before returning to the bed room.

Flora blushed but let it pass. She looked downward at the tea and saw that it was almost ready.

She had asked Vesta to watch her daughters tonight, the eight year old Lily and the six year old Fara, so she could have some alone time with her newest relationship. She knew Vesta didn't approve of getting rid of her children for a romantic night with someone but the farmer refrained from verbalizing it. Would she stop doing this for Flora if she knew who exactly it was that she was seeing? She didn't want to think about it and she certainly didn't want to care about other's opinions, but she couldn't help but wonder if her close friend, Vesta, would understand.

She drained the tea and put it in two serving cups. Tasting the beverage carefully, she nodded in approval before making her way to the bed room, tea in hands.

"Finally!" her brunette lover called out like an impatient toddler. Flora tried to pretend like she was talking about the tea. She allowed a blush to escape when she saw that her lover was in some of the shortest shorts she had seen on an individual.

She took in the appearance of the young woman, now about twenty, she supposed. She had long brown hair pulled away from her face in a clip that allowed it to flow straight behind her, and she had outgrown the pig tail braids, but she had yet to outgrow her bratty attitude or her adorable freckles- two things Flora had to admit she liked best about her.

The archeologist set the tea down on the floor and settled herself beside Kate on the sleeping bag, and reached for the remote to turn the TV on, but Kate grabbed her wrist and stopped her, clearly having other intentions for the night.

"It's storming, you wont get good service anyway." Flora couldn't believe that the girl actually had a logical reason other than "I don't want to" for once.

Flora was still sitting up right but Kate pushed her back against the wall so she could support herself as the much younger woman climbed on top of her lap, straddling her, and pulled off her oversized blue t-shirt, revealing her bare rather impressively-sized breasts.

"A-are you sure that you don't want some tea first?" It was a really stupid question, but Flora tended to ask stupid questions when she was aroused. Kate stuck out her tongue at her as a reply, and Flora made contact with it with her own, and the two felt around the other's wet appendage for a few seconds before the blonde of the two reached up to play with the brunette's nipples.

Kate responded by throwing her arms up above her head to give her partner room, moaning hotly, with the hands holding on to the elbow of the other arm, and the archeologist just tweaked and lightly pulled at the girl's nubs until her face was red and she was gasping for breath.

"You could at least use your tongue!" she called out before releasing another moan. Flora rolled her eyes but couldn't resist the temptation as she brought her mouth to one of Kate's breasts, and the younger woman began to grind hard into her, hollering and gasping.

Flora couldn't hold back her own pleasure cries anymore as she widened her legs to feel Kate a little closer. In doing so, the result was their crotches coming in clothed but full contact, and the two began to push and grind onto each other.

All those thoughts she had when all of this first started- she's too young, she's a girl- were all gone now. Flora didn't care. Older men had done nothing but hurt her. Give her children and then leave without a trace- a woman with no experience that didn't know how to break a heart even if she wanted to was what Flora needed. Fuck the rest of this damned town- it felt safe and it felt _good _and anyone who wanted to object could go fuck themselves.

Flora felt lust overcome her- I feeling she had felt twice before- as she dove for the girls pants to unzip them. "Stop moving your hips!" she scolded.

"I can't!" Kate cried. "It's too good!"

"It gets better- stop moving." Kate didn't come to a complete stop but she slowed down some, still aching to feel that release.

Flora got the girls pants off of her to reveal that she was going commando- she released a grunt of satisfaction as she slid in two fingers at the same time.

Hearing the young woman call out her name made her push harder then she knew she should've on the inexperienced female, but there was no going back now- what they had started wasn't stopping any time soon.

Flora realized this and smiled- Kate simultaneously realized the same thing and felt her heart sink to her stomach.


	5. Chapter 5

Daryl soon learned that bringing the umbrella was pointless.

The storm had come to a complete and abrupt stop, save for the sky still looking a bit intimidating as grey clouds continued to loom in the aftermath. He trudged on through the mud and dusty darkness towards the beach, squinting through his glasses to see if he couldn't get a better view of his path. Of course he knew where he was going, with what little vision he had in the dark, but Daryl was so used to being awake and walking about at this hour that his eyes had adjusted to darkness somewhat, however the scientist was indeed aging and that gave his sight in general a setback.

He began to wonder who else was out at this hour and, inevitably, began to think about _him_ as well. He cursed his drifting focus, it was a quality about himself that had led to a multitude of failures.

Vesta had swore that the man was still alive and well, but… there was always that deep paranoia within the scientist throughout his years away from the Valley that _something _had happened, whether his love had gotten sick, or hurt or was simply lonely- then again he might have mistaken paranoid suspicion for hope. Hope that his partner wasn't doing very well without Daryl just as Daryl wasn't doing very well without him. He hated himself for such cruel wishes.

The coast was still beautiful, even after a monstrous storm. The sky was clouded but that one bright red star that no one could quite figure out still hung suspended, shining brightly in the otherwise colorless, cloudy beyond. Daryl remembered not even noticing the glimmering crimson star until _he _had pointed it out to him.

The folded umbrella in his fist, he used his free hand to adjust his glasses as an incredibly short, feeble looking figure appeared in the distance as the scientist moved in closer to the beach.

Another close friend of his, he realized as he walked closer. But the last time he had seen him, he didn't look like this-so terribly small and aged- and he had a nearly identical figure beside him nearly all the time.

Kasey looked worn, tired, drained, and well, old. He still had the same pair of overalls on, but they were falling off of him, evidence that the elderly man had lost a great and unhealthy amount of weight.

"Good evening." Daryl said to the back of the sitting figure. Kasey didn't even turn around. "Welcome back." he replied flatly and gruffly.

"Thanks. Where's your brother?" he already knew the answer, but you could never be sure.

"Dead." was all the twin said.

"My condolences." Daryl said softly, trying to pass on some sympathy to the feeble old man.

Though an awkward silence was in order here, Kasey wasted no time saying what was next. "That makes eight."

Daryl squinted at him. "Eight?"

"Jack, Ramona, Takakura, Sebastion, Nina, Galen, Grant, and Patrick makes eight deaths in the Valley since I've been here." The way Kasey just rolled the names of the ones passed on like it were a list of groceries was a tad frightening.

Daryl blinked at the list. Jack, he knew, Ramona and Sebastion and Nina, he knew, Takakura and Galen were a given and Patrick was a recent discovery but… Grant?

"How did Kate's father die?"

Kasey took a long thoughtful pause before answering. "Suicide."

Daryl couldn't believe his ears- suicide? He knew the man was often pretty down after his wife left, but how low could he have possibly gone? Then again, Daryl hadn't even spoken to him once…

"In case your wondering, and I know you are," Kasey released a great cough before continuing, yet another sign that his health was failing him. "He found his daughter in bed with some guy. Older guy. I guess he just couldn't take it anymore and killed himself."

The scientist was still quite confused. "But Kate is a young adult by now, he needs to give her some sort of freedom."

The pyrotechnic shook his head. "This was six years ago. She was fourteen when this happened."

Daryl just wanted to lay down and slip out of consciousness. This was unreal. The Valley, the beautiful Valley that held no wrong-doing, was at one point the home of a sexually active pre-teen and a suicidal father.

Kasey had yet to turn and face him until this point. "You've come to see your boyfriend, huh?"

He took a moment to look at how sullen and colorless Kasey's eyes had become before answering. "Yes."

The slightest hint of emotion glinted across his eyes for a millisecond before he turned to the ocean again. "It's late, but he doesn't sleep much anyhow." the twin murmured. Daryl nodded, though Kasey couldn't see it.

"I know. It's kind of how we met." The memory of walking around town grumbling to himself at three in the morning and finding _him _by the lake was still fresh, though old.

"He's still the same." Kasey said. And that was all the man could say before he stood slowly and painfully. Daryl felt the urge to go and help him but something told him not to. The pyrotechnic then began, with a painful limp and the speed of a tortoise, to walk towards his home.

Daryl felt his heart go out to what would soon become number nine on his list of deaths.

* * *

"_**OLIIIVE!"**_

The last syllable was stretched out to an angry, loud length that shook the entire tool shed beside The Villa. Through darkness lit solely by candles strewn throughout and a weakly shining lamp in the corner by where the Witch Princess usually read her books, the voice boomed with immortal volume. Which was appropriate seeing that she was, indeed, immortal.

She stood at the top of the stepping ladder reaching her great large pot in the center of the room, in great need for an ingredient that she had asked for from her assistant a good long five minutes ago. Five minutes was a _damn _long time and a personal record for the assistant in question.

"I'm coming! Jesus Christ!" was a teenage girl's reply. She trudged quickly up the stairs with a brown box, her blonde ponytail bouncing behind her and her green eyes cast downward angrily. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I couldn't remember if you needed lizard _scale _or lizard _tail_, so I picked up both."

The Witch Princess rolled her eyes. "Idiot, I _said _I needed both!"

Olive turned up her nose in disinterest. "I suppose we both win, then."

The witch growled in impatience and grabbed the box from the girl, checked it's contents and dumped what it held inside her pot. "Good, now we wait."

She gave the teen a light push to rush her down the stairs to get her out of her way. "What is this supposed to do again?" Olive asked as she moved quickly down the stairway. The Witch reached in front of her and pulled the ponytail out of her hair, allowing it to fall down her back, so she could use the elastic to put her own hair out of her sweating face. "If we get it right, it will actually singe and consume essential structures of a given host, specifically human anatomical devices, to the point of complete disintegration."

At the end of the sentence Olive stopped and turned to slowly to look at her with wide eyes.

The Witch groaned. "It will eat her fucking insides, Olive."

"Oh!" she exclaimed before continuing her return to the floor below.

The fifteen year old blonde was thin, athletic, and beautiful, though she could at times be a bit ditsy. "And Your sure this one will actually work?"

The older female shook her head. "There is never any certainty in magic, you know that. Have I taught you nothing?"

Olive jumped from the second step from the bottom of the stairway to the floor, where she scurried off to the book case, ignoring the witch.

"I turn sixteen in a week!" she declared proudly as she grabbed an apple from a basket on The Witch Princess's desk. Said Princess took a seat in the old oak chair at the desk and grabbed one of the shiny red fruits for herself. "So you do." she replied flatly.

"Are you gonna buy me a gift, WP?"

The Witch snorted. "Don't hold your breath, kid."

Olive frowned and bit into her apple.

"Your birthday present is gonna be knocking that bitch Muffy over dead once and for all." The Witch said with a scowl, tossing the apple back and forth in her hand.

Olive took a seat in a nearby stool, swinging her legs back and forth, her eyes just as wide and innocent as they were when The Witch had first met her. "I wonder if this one will work." she lost interest in the apple and laid it down on the desk. The older blonde rolled her eyes at the child's wastefulness.

After so many failed attempts to do the evil housemaid in once and for all, The Witch had little faith that this one would actually do the job. But she had to keep trying if she was to rid the valley of that woman- the one person the Witch Princess had been outdone in forms of evilness of this Valley.

"It will work." she said quietly, eyeing the apple and seeing her faded and blurry reflection. "It has to work."

She looked up at her high ceiling and through the apple hard up to hit it. With the added anger in her already frightening upper arm strength, the apple actually soared high, but not high enough to come close to the top. "Or you, me, and the rest of this damned place are doomed." On the final word, the apple dropped to the floor.

* * *

_The Harvest Goddess._

_Beautiful. Lovely. The epitome of grace and feminine authority. Where she had come from no one knew, and they were content with such mystery. The Goddess loved the occasional trick and laugh, but nothing that could cause anyone harm. _

_Yet, there she stood. Her eyes wide and aflame with hatred and fury, the winds and rains from hell itself blasting at full speed behind her, thunder roaring like never before and lighting striking everything in sight._

"_You dare to allow such sin in __**my **__Valley?" she growled low and painfully. "Fool! You, you and the rest of this damned place will pay for this!"_

_One by one, the visitors were seen, consumed by fire and slowly roasted until nothing but nameless ashes remained, and the loud thunder and blinding lightning tore down their homes, their belongings, the very ground no longer existed- it was just a void._

_They appeared in front of her, surrounded by black, and the fire started at their ankles, working up to their torsos and then silencing their screams of agonizing pain by melting the skin of their faces away. She made her watch as the people that she had come to know as her neighbors were destroyed by the Goddess's endless wrath._

"_Windows of Heaven! Fountains of the Deep! Craters from the depths of Hades itself! Open! Consume these vile fools for what they have done to my precious Valley!"_

_They appeared one by one to be destroyed… and she saw everything. Their horrified faces and desperate eyes, and their hands reaching out for help, but she couldn't move, regardless of how badly she wanted to. _

_Then, she saw Dalton._

Open.

Her eyes open. She was out of breath, and in a cold sweat and had cried loud from the nightmare. Nami grabbed the front of the shirt Gustafa had lent her to calm her racing heart.

She looked to see Gustafa still asleep, not stirred in the least by her outburst. His breath still even and deep, and his body motionless save for the movement of his diaphragm, up and down to the beat of his peaceful inhales and exhales.

"Windows of Heaven." she whispered. "What the hell does that even mean?"

With a swift shaking of her head, she tried to erase the images from her dream away. It was just a dream, and it was pointless. But, the one image she couldn't seem to release was… Dalton. About to be consumed by fire, about to be killed right in front of her.

"Back to sleep." she whispered aloud. "Just a dream." Nami wasn't one for talking to herself, but whatever it took to calm her pulse and cold sweat. She tried to think of happy memories, of Dalton's birth, of her and Jack's marriage. But they always went back to that image of her son, the fire starting to bite at his ankles…

No, no she couldn't. She'd end up going insane.

"Just a dream." she whispered as she turned on her side. "Just a dream."

* * *

**Author's Note- **_TOTES forgot bout the rulers in the last file. Sorry guys! Regardless though I know that this chapter is short but I needed to get these few plot points out of the way. Then we can return to the fun stuff._

_So, to review over the children,_

_Nami & Jack's son is Dalton.  
Lumina & Rock's daughter is Clara.  
Celia & Griffin's twins are Luke and Hannah.  
Flora & Carter's daughter is Lily.  
Flora's daughter that she won't reveal the father of (yet) is Fara.  
And the Witch Princess's assistant is Olive._

_Just a quick recap in case you were getting confused. :)  
No more children will be introduced. I dont think._

_Anyway, I hoep you enjoyed. Feel free to review. :)_

_-Lou_


End file.
